Charles Clay, London

• gilt full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and engraved balance cock, diamond endstone, fusee and chain, cylindrical pillars with baluster foot, two polished steel hammers repeating on a bell to the inside case back • signed gilt metal dust cap • gold champlevé dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute track • gold inner case with floral pierced and engraved band inhabited by grotesque birds, beasts and flowers, hallmarked 1724 • gold outer case with repoussé scene depicting Christ and the lame beggar within a symmetrical cartouche, four outer panels with figures representing the Four Seasons with pierced foliate decoration between, the bezel similarly pierced and with floral panels • movement and dust cap signed C Clay London, dial signed Clay, bell and barrel scratch signed 

Terence Camerer Cuss, The English Watch 1585-1970, p. 174, pl. 96.

The repeating work found in this watch is a very early example of the Stodgen type. Stodgen’s form of repeating mechanism was introduced in the early 1720s and used by English makers thereafter. Charles Clay himself petitioned Parliament for a patent for a repeating watch of his own invention. F. J. Britten notes, however, that Daniel Quare answered the patent application with a watch of his own and despite the Attorney-General initially finding favour with Clay’s application, the Clockmakers’ Company strongly opposed the patent. Between February 1716 and the end of 1717, Clay fought to obtain the patent but was ultimately unsuccessful.

This is an early example of an outer case with a complete repoussé scene to the centre. Few repoussé watches with scenes from the New Testament have survived from this period, making this a particularly rare example. The dial has been especially constructed from a single piece (champlevé dials usually have separately made centres), and the back of the dial has only one foot, rather than the usual three, this for locating the dial in a ring which bayonet fits onto the movement. This method of dial construction allows room for the repeating mechanism beneath it. 

Charles Clay was from Stockton, Yorkshire but subsequently lived on the Strand in London.  He became free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1706 and worked for George Graham.